Abstract

Partial specification is a method of specifying complex systems in which the system is described by a collection of specifications, each approaching the system from a different viewpoint. The specification notation Z is often advocated as a suitable language for this style of specification. For collections of partial specifications to be meaningful, they need to be consistent, i.e. they should not impose contradictory requirements. This paper addresses how the consistency between partial specifications in Z can be checked, by constructing unifications, i.e. least common refinements, of viewpoint specifications.

Item Type:

Article

Additional information:

This paper is a significantly extended and slightly improved version of "Consistency and refinement for partial specification in Z" which was presented at FME'96. It has been accepted for publication in Science of Computer Programming.